6G6 



DIAMOND DIANA. 



beautiful varieties of chrysobcryls (chiefly those 

 called in Brazil green aqua-murines) and sapphires 

 white and blue topazes, rubies, quartzes, and other 

 stones. After the whole collection of the year luui 

 been examined, and a list made, they were, in the 

 presence of all the members, packed up in bags, and 

 deposited in a small red morocco box. This was 

 fastened by two locks, of wliich the inteudant and the 

 officer of the crown revenue liad each a key, and 

 then given in charge, together with the minutes ol 

 tlic i>n>ceedini:s, to ;i detachment of dragoons, and 

 addressed to the king, to be forwarded to the gover- 

 nor of Villa Rica, to Rio Janeiro. The diamond- 

 \\ a<hing is performed by slaves, who are liired by 

 the government from private proprietors, at the rate 

 of 300 to 600 rees a-week. They are under the con- 

 trol of certain inspectors, named feitores, of whom 

 tin re were, in 1818, one hundred. These persons 

 have the more immediate care of the slaves, and re- 

 ceive from them the diamonds. The feitores, again, 

 are under the control of ten surveyors (administra- 

 dores), who weigh the diamonds, deliver them to the 

 junta, and have the management of the works, ma- 

 chinery, &c. The government formerly prohibited 

 the washing for gold hi the Diamond district : it is, 

 however, now permitted, as a favour to individuals ; 

 but if any precious stones are found, they are given 

 up to the junta. The most formidable enemy to the 

 government are the diamond smugglers, or grimpei- 

 ros. These persons, who are frequently runaway 

 slaves, being well acquainted with the country, are 

 able by night to elude the vigilance of the royal 

 guards. The diamonds smuggled are generally pro- 

 cured from the slaves, who are able, in the presence 

 of the inspectors, to secrete them in various ways 

 between their fingers and toes, in their ears, mouth, 

 or hair ; or they swallow the stones, or throw, them 

 over their heads, so that they can find them again by 

 night. When the guards are once past, the smug- 

 glers sell the stones to traders, who easily conceal 

 them in bales of cotton and other similar commodi- 

 ties, and send them down to the coast. Such is the 

 necessary and natural consequence of the system 

 adopted by the Brazilian government. " It is," as 

 doctor Martius remarks, " the only instance in which 

 a tract of country has been isolated, and all civil re- 

 lations made subordinate to a monopoly of the crown. " 

 The happiness and convenience of both the inhabi- 

 tants and neighbours are obviously sacrificed to 

 maintain a mercantile speculation, of which the pro- 

 fits cannot be very great.* 



DIAMOND, in technical language, is the rhom- 

 boid, that is, a quadrangle with equal sides, and 

 two obtuse angles ; for instance, in patterns of ca- 

 lico. 



DIANA ; the Roman name of the Artemis of the 

 Greeks ; the daughter of Jupiter and Latona, twin 

 sister of Apollo. (See Apollo, and Delos.) While 

 yet a child, as Callimachus relates in his hymn, she 

 entreated her father to suffer her to continue a vir- 

 gin, because her mother's sufferings had rendered 

 her averse from love. She desired him, at the same 

 time, to give her a bow and arrows, a city, and rule 

 over the hills, sixty Oceanides, and twenty river- 

 nymphs, and to permit her to bear a torch and hunt 

 in the forests. Jupiter gave her more than she 

 asked. He caused thirty cities to be devoted exclu- 

 sively to her worship, and appointed many others 



* Diamonds have been lately brought by Alex, von Hum. 

 boldt from the Ural mountains, where, from some passages 

 in ancient writers, they appear to have been found in an- 

 cient times. " Not far from the Rhipbaean mountains," nays 

 IMonysius Periegetes, " amongthe cold Agathyrsi, sparkling 

 diamonds a^e collected ;" and Ammtanus Marcellinus agrees 

 with him when he mentions " Aaathyrti apud quos adaman- 

 t*t ett copia lapidit." 



where she was venerated in common with other 

 deities. Diana then retired to the woods of Leucus, 

 in Crete; thence she went to the ocean, where she 

 selected a numerous retinue of nymphs, nine years 

 old. Her next journey was to the Cyclops, on the 

 island Lipara, of whom she asked a Cydonian bow, 

 and a quiver and arrows. They executed the com- 

 mands of the goddess, and she now appeared wit.li 

 her arms in the Arcadian territory of 1'an, who pre- 

 sented her with some beautiful hunting-dogs. Thus 

 equipped, at the foot of mount Parrhasius, she took 

 four beautiful stags, with gold antlers, yoked tlu-m 

 to her chariot, and proceeded with them first to the 

 Thracian Haemus. On Olympus, in Mysia. she cut 

 a torch from a tree, and kindled it with the lightning 

 of Jove. When she returned to the palace of the 

 gods, loaded with game, Mercury and Apollo met 

 her in the vestibule ; the former took her weapons, 

 and the latter the fruits of the cliase. The river- 

 nymphs unyoked the stags from her chariot, fed them 

 in Juno's meadows, and gave them water from golden 

 vessels. Diana then went into the palace of the 

 gods, and sat by the side of Apollo. As he directs 

 the chariot of the sun, she guides that of the moon. 

 Cupid and Venus sought to conquer her hi vain. 

 Hunting, music and dancing alone had charms for 

 her. She punished without mercy those of her vir- 

 gins who violated their vows of chastity. Acteeon, 

 the grandson of Cadmus, who secretly watched her 

 as she was bathing, she changed into a stag, and his 

 own dogs tore him in pieces. The beautiful Endy- 

 mion, however, at length made her feel the power of 

 love. While enlightening the earth as Luna (the 

 moon), she beheld the hunter, fatigued with the 

 chase, slumbering in the woods. She descended from 

 her ethereal course, and kissed the lips of the youth, 

 who enjoyed a favour never before granted to mortal 

 or immortal. Notwithstanding her aversion to love, 

 she afforded aid to women who called upon her in 

 travail. She was also the goddess of death. She 

 aims her darts especially at the female sex, and 

 brings the old, who are satisfied with life, to a gentle 

 death, to make way for the vigorous and blooming. 

 When she is angry, she destroys with pestilence and 

 disease, like her brother Apollo. When offended, she 

 revenges without compassion. Thus she slew Orion, 

 the hunter, from jealousy, because Aurora had fallen 

 in love with him ; so also the daughters of Niobe, 

 because their mother preferred herself above Latona, 

 &c. In the Trojan war, both Diana and Apollo aided 

 the Trojans ; and hi the war with the giants and 

 Titans, she proved her valour. 



The worship of Diana was spread through all 

 Greece. She received many surnames, particularly 

 from the places where her worship was established, 

 and from the functions over which she presided. She 

 was called Lucina, Jlythia, or Juno Pronuba, when 

 invoked by women in child-bed, and Trivia when 

 worshipped hi the cross-ways where her statues were 

 generally erected. She was supposed to be the same 

 as the moon and Proserpine or Hecate, and from that 

 ircumstance she was called Triformis; and some of 

 her statues represented her with three heads, that of 

 a horse, a dog, and a boar. She was also called 

 dgroteta, Orthia, Taurica, Delia, Cynthia, Aricia, 

 ic. She was supposed to be the same as the Jsis of 

 ;he Egyptians, whose worship was introduced iiilo 

 Greece with that of Osiris, under the name of Apollo. 

 The Artemisia was a festival celebrated in honour of 

 ler at Delphi. At first she was represented with a 

 diadem, afterwards with the crescent upon her head, 

 with bow and arrows, a quiver over her shoulders, 

 and a light hunting dress, together with her hounds, 

 rler most famous temple was at Ephesus (q. v.), and 

 was considered one of the wonders of die world She 



